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Inflation is an important measure of any country’s economy, and the Retail Price Index (RPI) is one of the most widely used indicators in the United Kingdom, with the rate expected to be 3.1 percent across 2026, compared with 4.1 percent in 2025. This followed 2022, when RPI inflation reached a rate of 11.6 percent, by far the highest annual rate during this provided time period.

Inflation uptick in 2025

On a quarterly basis, the RPI stood at 4.8 percent in the third quarter of 2025, up from just 3.3 percent twelve months earlier. This recent rise in inflation is, however, expected to decline in 2026, with RPI inflation back at 3.3 percent by the end of that year. After several months of high inflation between 2021 and 2023, this recent period of elevated inflation has added further stress to UK households, with approximately 63 percent reporting rising living costs in October 2025. 

CPI vs RPI

Although the Retail Price Index is a commonly utilized inflation indicator, the UK also uses a newer method of calculating inflation, the Consumer Price Index. The CPI, along with the CPIH (Consumer Price Index including owner occupiers' housing costs) are usually preferred by the UK government, but the RPI is still used in certain instances. Increases in rail fares for example, are calculated using the RPI, while increases in pension payments are calculated using CPI, when this is used as the uprating factor. The use of one inflation measure over the other can therefore have a significant impact on people’s lives in the UK.